If you use municipal water, you can't use a rain barrel or cistern to collect rain that would otherwise run off or disappear into areas where it's not needed. Having a private well may grant you a permit to use rainwater for irrigation, but not if the well is already restricted for.

Some insurance companies - such as State Farm - have a clause that addresses additional costs required by governmental ordinances or laws. It may be only minimal coverage, such as 10 percent of the house's value. Unless you ask for that specific coverage to be increased, you'll be stuck with expenses well above that.

The City of Boulder, Boulder Green Building Guild, ReDirect Guide and the Center for ReSource Conservation are putting on this event in downtown Boulder's Central Park area. Business-level BGBG members who commit to a booth before April 1 can get the space for $350, on a first-come, first-served basis.

He also helps people navigate the county's BuildSmart energy code and pool resources with others, as is done in the Fourmile Fire Rebuilders Club, a building materials co-op. Many survivors plan to go green beyond county standards, as close to 'net-zero' - when energy production matches consumption - as possible.

In the fall of 2009, Boulder combined four divisions the Planning Department, the Office of Environmental Affairs and the Economic Vitality and Community Sustainability programs into a new department Back then, City Manager Jane Brautigam said,...

There are rebates for solar thermal systems and energy-efficient water heaters - separate from the Xcel incentives for PVs - that reduce the price of installing them considerably. Ruby reckons that most systems will pay for themselves in about 10 years.

You also don't have to be a farmer to benefit. My favorite go-to person about worm composting, software engineer Dan Moore, says his permaculture education has taught him to observe and figure things out, rather than just plunge into a project right away.

'If we can increase local food production as much as possible, it will mean new jobs, new economic activity,' says Michael Brownlee, co-founder of Transition Colorado. 'It's an area of production that our economists and government are not regarding as economic development.'

A series of Saturday beekeeping classes covers everything from set-up to turning bees' wax into craft products. Experienced beekeepers can drop in on the class of their choice. Bee wrangler Julie Finley Ridinger can even come to your home for an hourly fee to check out your hives and offer advice.

As a Junior Girl Scout, my troop's walk to a manicured suburban park was called a 'hike.' We were taught how to bake cookies from packaged mixes and what to do for someone who'd fainted. And, of course, we sold those famous boxes of cookies mass-produced elsewhere.